ScorecardZimbabwe A’s batsmen enjoyed a solid opening day to their second and final first-class match against Bangladesh A at Fatullah. They reached 276 for 4 by the close, with Sean Williams making 82 and Stuart Matsikenyeri unbeaten on 68; the pair putting on 106 for the fourth wicket.Matsikenyeri later began to build another useful stand, this time with Elton Chigumbura (37*), and their partnership was worth 62 by stumps. Enamul Haque jnr was the most successful bowler, with two wickets; he dismissed the openers Tino Mawoyo (16) and Tinashe Hove (23) in successive overs as Zimbabwe slipped from 44 without loss to 55 for 2.Chamu Chibhabha’s wicket was the only other to fall in the day, to Mohammad Shahadza, but not before he made 36 from just 45 balls.Zimbabwe A need a win in this match to level the series after Bangladesh won the opener by one wicket.

In the slew of announcements and news that appeared from the working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India emerged one vital snippet that should not go unnoticed. For the first time in its history the BCCI is taking its role in the development of women’s cricket seriously, and has announced that each player who was part of the women’s team that beat England and then won the Asia Cup would receive a bonus of Rs. One lakh (US$2000).While that does not seem like a lot given what their male counterparts earn, it is a significant sum for members of the women’s team, who barely earned anything from their victories. In the past, while the Women’s Cricket Association of India, run, for all practical purposes, by Shubhangi Kulkarni, a former Indian captain, did not register losses, they did not have the luxury of paying their cricketers well.Women’s teams stayed in dormitories and modest hotels and received little in way of match fees, and only on the odd occasion, through sponsorship support, did they receive daily allowances. But, after the ICC laid down a deadline for all cricket boards to merge their men’s and women’s administrative bodies, slowly but surely, a change came about. Kulkarni, secretary of the women’s association, had met Jagmohan Dalmiya, the then BCCI president, about a merger, but nothing came of it.Currently the new regime of the BCCI has worked towards appointing committees to oversee women’s cricket in India at various levels, incorporating existing officials of the women’s association. A significant step forward came when India toured England and each member of the women’s team received a daily allowance of US$50 per day, which is on par with what the men’s team receives.When the side embarked on their 40-day tour of England, each was handed travellers’ cheques and currency worth £1100 (US$ 2000), an unheard of thing in women’s cricket. Interestingly, Nike, who are the kit sponsors of the men’s team, were willing to extend their support to the women’s team, but could not do so as the Women’s Cricket Association of India had a pre-existing deal with Sahara until December 2007.When the women’s team toured England they drew the first Test at Grace Road, Leicester. Then they came back with a five-wicket win, to take their first-ever series win in England. Mithali Raj, the captain, and Anjum Chopra, the left-hand bat, starred in a first-innings score of 307. Jhulan Goswami, the fast bowler, then took 5 for 33 and reduced England to 99 all out. Following-on England made 305 thanks to a century from Charlotte Edwards, but India knocked off the required runs with five wickets to spare.Even then it was suggested to Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, that the team be given a bonus of some sort. But he preferred to wait for the Asia Cup and club the two, and his faith in women’s team paid off. India easily beat Sri Lanka in the final, restricting them to 93 before knocking off the required runs with eight wickets to spare. Now, the Indian women have got the rewards they deserve.

Shane Bond believes he is fit enough to get through the rest of the CB Series in Australia, despite his latest reoccurrence of his back problems.”I never thought I was going home, I didn’t think it was that major,” Bond said, after being hampered during New Zealand’s 90-run victory over England at Adelaide this week.”It still aches, it did ache in the last game,” Bond said. “I can deal with the pain, but when that pain diminishes my back spasms and almost locks right across the back and once that happens it becomes a little difficult to bowl.”Bond underwent a scan after the Adelaide match, and the New Zealand media speculated that his tour could be over, but no stress fracture or structural problem was detected. Instead, he has arrived in Perth for the next round of matches, still reveling in the capture of his 100th one-day international wicket.”I’m stoked because the 100-wicket thing is not a very big group of people and even though I’ve had injuries it shows a degree of longevity to get to 100,” said Bond, who needed just 54 games to reach the mark – one more than the record-holder, the former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq, but one fewer than Australia’s spearhead, Brett Lee.”I knew I was in the running for the record but the rain out in Hamilton [against Sri Lanka] killed it,” added Bond. “I knew in the last game if I got a wicket I could equal it but I’m just pretty happy to get there.”

Marlon Samuels is available for selection to the West Indies squad for the World Cup, though his participation would depend on the results of the investigation he is currently facing, the ICC has said. West Indies are to announce their squad later today.Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC spokesman, told reporters in Nagpur: “Marlon Samuels is available to be selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup at this stage, although obviously that situation may alter depending on the results of the ongoing investigation being carried out by the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.”The Nagpur police have claimed that Samuels passed on team information to Mukesh Kochar, an alleged bookie, ahead of West Indies’ one-day match against India in that city last month.A four-member anti-corruption unit (ACU) of the ICC arrived in Nagpur on February 12 to conduct a probe into the allegations. The ACU headed by N S Virk, its regional security manager, met SPS Yadav, Nagpur’s Police Commissioner, who had contacted the Indian board (BCCI) with the initial details.Samuels admitted he has known Kochar for the past six years but did not believe he was a bookmaker. Kochar told the Indian media he was not a bookie and that Samuels was like “a son” to him.

Mark Gillespie, the New Zealand fast bowler, has been diagnosed with an uncommon nerve disorder in his right shoulder that threatens to delay his World Cup entry. The problem, which New Zealand officials called acute brachial neuritis, was the result of a throat virus Gillespie suffered before leaving for the Caribbean last week.Gillespie’s bowling arm became numb during the long flight to the West Indies and he will return to a specialist in Barbados on Friday. News of Gillespie’s nerve inflammation was a double blow for New Zealand, who suffered their first defeat to Bangladesh on Tuesday.New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming had hoped Gillespie’s problem would be a short-term issue, but the bowler is likely to miss Friday’s warm-up against Sri Lanka. A New Zealand spokesman said Gillespie was on medication and he would have a greater idea of his playing prospects when he returned to the specialist.Fleming said New Zealand were shaken by the upset loss to Bangladesh in their opening warm-up game. The side came to the Caribbean with high hopes of progressing deep into the tournament after a cleansweep of Australia, but they face some rebuilding after being humbled by the No. 9-ranked Bangladesh.Despite the painful two-wicket defeat, which was sealed by Mashrafe Mortaza’s two sixes off James Franklin, Fleming refused to offer any excuses. “There’s not a lot we can say, I guess it’s a result that just shakes you up,” Fleming told Reuters. “We just didn’t play well. It gives us some headaches and I suppose you can say it’s a wake-up call before the tournament starts.”Nothing went right. We batted poorly at the beginning and did not assess conditions that well. We knew it was going to be tricky at the start and we fell flat on our faces. We were always there in the game. We fought back after a poor start and if we had reached 250, we would have won the game. But they fielded brilliantly, they just kept coming at us. We just couldn’t shake them.”It was a morale-boosting win for Bangladesh ahead of their first round matches against India, Sri Lanka and Bermuda. “It was a very good win and naturally we are pleased,” said captain Habibul Bashar. “We are moving in the right direction.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Inspired by a genius who raised his game when the occasion demanded, Sri Lanka overpowered India in their final league match at Port-of-Spain and stormed into the Super Eights. India suffered one of their most disappointing days in recent memory, muffing up a run-chase on a pitch posing no worries, and were all but ousted from the World Cup, in what is likely to be their worst campaign since 1979.It wasn’t as one-sided a contest as the scorecard suggests. The first half of the match was a cat-and-mouse battle that everyone expected, with neither team establishing their dominance. Sri Lanka scrapped out a competitive 254 and defended it with verve and skill. Muttiah Muralitharan towered over India’s batsmen, bounding in from around the wicket and taunting them with offbreaks and that were near unplayable. He was unstoppable on the field too and pulled off a full-length lunge to dismiss the in-form Sourav Ganguly, and killed Indian hopes once and for all with a good catch at long-off to get rid of Rahul Dravid.Coming close on the heels of Bob Woolmer’s tragic demise, India’s exit will no doubt be a setback for the World Cup. Carrying the tags of ‘commercial favourites’, they will be the first to admit that they didn’t deserve to go through, having been trumped by both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It was no doubt a spineless batting effort today but there is little one can do when confronted by a magician like Murali.Half-centuries from Upul Tharanga and Chamara Silva had set Sri Lanka up but it was the Murali factor that proved too much for India. His first-ball topspinner that hoodwinked Mahendra Singh Dhoni summed up his influence. He fizzed one through and landed it on middle stump, Dhoni thought about the cut but could only watch in a daze as the ball crashed into his back pad. It was so plumb, and he seemed so embarrassed, that he walked instinctively. To see Dhoni walk before the bowler had completely gone up for the lbw appeal was to see the last whiff of hope evaporate.Murali earlier removed the dangerous Virender Sehwag at a crucial juncture. Sehwag’s solidity, and reading of the percentages, was reminiscent of the batsman in his prime. There was hardly any wild swinging outside off – barring one moment on 39, when Kumar Sangakkara couldn’t latch on to a full-length dive off a fierce slash off Dilhara Fernando – but a game built on assessing the situation and the bowlers. Yet, in the 23rd over, Murali’s third, he was tied up in knots. He first missed a doosra down the leg side, one that was called wide despite nearly knocking off leg stump, but was completely baffled by another that pitched on off and turned away, watching Mahela Jayawardene gobble up a catch at first slip.If Sehwag’s dismissal was the turning point, Yuvraj Singh’s fatal run-out was probably the clincher. Taking off for a single where there was none, after Dravid had nudged behind square, was all it needed for Sri Lanka to pounce. Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar had fallen cheaply earlier – one to a poor stroke, another to an incisive delivery – and the run-chase was well and truly derailed. Dravid ploughed along amid the ruins, suffering a hamstring along the way and briefly lashing Lasith Malinga for four consecutive fours in an over, but that was nothing but a rage against the dying light. The contest was long over.

Sri Lanka’s batting efforts were built around Tharanga and Silva. Sri Lanka didn’t ride on their senior pros, who were bogged down and snaffled out, but relied on a 22-year-old to guide them past the early tension. Tharanga wasn’t at his flowing best, understandably so considering the needle in this contest, but his half-century was the one that anchored the innings. He didn’t endeavour anything out of the ordinary and had his lucky moments, against Ajit Agarkar’s slower balls and Zaheer Khan’s in-cutters. But he interspersed them with gorgeous drives.His dismissal brought in a couple of hardworking batsmen – Silva was beaver-like in his approach, grinding out singles and improvising fours while Dilshan, always on the look-out for runs, provided support. Silva’s third consecutive World Cup fifty formed the heart of the middle overs and his cheeky glides behind the wicket irritated the bowlers. Dilshan was the more forceful, backing away and forcing the ball through the off side. Both fell in quick succession but Russel Arnold and Chaminda Vaas, adding 38 in 23 deliveries, boosted the total beyond the 250 mark.India’s bowlers turned in an impressive performance, 27 extras notwithstanding. Agarkar and Munaf Patel were the best bowlers on view and would have ended with richer hauls with a dose of good fortune. Tendulkar surprised with his banana inswing and Ganguly chipped in with an important wicket. The tension that had built up over the last few days simmered right through the first 70 overs of the match, only for Murali to cut through it in his inimitable style. A banner that read “Murali-ed” probably got it just right.

On days such as these, it is easy to sympathise with Guyana’s construction plight. A terminally morose cloud hung overhead from dawn till dusk, transforming the island of Antigua into a soggy sandbank, and with it many of the peripheral parts of an otherwise magnificent new Sir Vivian Richards stadium. The carpark became a quagmire, as did sections of the outfield and the grassy banks at midwicket. In conditions this inclement, it isn’t easy to complete building projects on schedule.So hard-hats off to Matthew Hayden, who produced – in the circumstances – one of the great one-day performances. We will not know just how great until Wednesday, when West Indies are given their belated right to reply, but this performance is already the highest score made by an Australian in the World Cup. On a sluggish pitch that offered plenty for the bowlers under perpetual cloud cover, he secured for his side a position of extreme authority.”It’s got to be one of his top innings,” Australia’s coach, John Buchanan, said. Buchanan spoke on his player’s behalf because Hayden preferred not to tempt fate mid-match. “It’s not just because of his score, but also because of the adjustment he made coming from St Kitts. The ground was significantly different, the wicket was significantly different and the bowling attack was significantly different. We were looking for a platform, and he gave us exactly that.”This was Hayden’s ninth ODI century and his second in consecutive matches, but rarely can two different innings have been compiled in the space of four days. His 66-ball century against South Africa was, like Adam Gilchrist’s Ashes onslaught at Perth, almost a throwback to the player he once was. It was a brash, bullying performance in which he treated the boundary much as he used to treat opposition swing bowlers. This, on the other hand, was an innings that displayed the wisdom of his 35 years.”We’ve got a lot of experience in our batting, and we leave it to individual players to assess the conditions,” Buchanan said. “They are good at telling each other what to do when they go out there, and they’re good at sending information back. This is a new ground, and both sides were not exactly sure how it would play. In the end, it was pretty true but we made just about the most of those conditions that we could.”In the end it was true, though Hayden had no way of knowing that when his innings began. The ground’s late completion date meant there had been time for just a handful of age-group and club matches to assess the newly-laid pitch, and when Gilchrist edged a nip-backer from Daren Powell in the fifth over, Hayden was still to get off the mark after 16 balls. After the carnage of St Kitts, this was a reversion to the conditions that seem to have been prevalent in all other parts of the Caribbean in this tournament.

Hayden’s rebirth as an international cricketer has been remarkable. In one-day cricket, he was a busted flush by the end of the 2005 Ashes. His agonisingly determined century in the final game at The Oval preserved his Test place, but it seemed to confirm that he had misplaced the arrogance that had made him such a force. His technique, never the most flowing, had been counterbalanced by (as England’s passnotes at Melbourne revealed last winter) his “ego”.He missed 28 consecutive ODIs after that series (and 34 out of 36) as Australia’s selectors tinkered at the top of the order, with Phil Jaques, Simon Katich and Shane Watson all competing for the right to launch the World Cup campaign. None of them proved so effective or so permanent.”The replacements did a reasonable job,” Buchanan said, “but he has batted harder to get back into the side, and he’s always believed he should be in the side. At the beginning of this tournament, he’s made a statement about himself, to bat for long innings and to be reasonably flexible in his shot selection and shot range.”By the end of his innings, as the early conditions eased and the ball softened, there was only one range of shot that mattered, and that was long-range. Australia’s final total of 322 for 6 was incredible in the circumstances, given how dank the weather had been all day, and how ponderous their opening gambit had been. But that is the virtue that Hayden now brings to his game. A spell on the sidelines and the dissemination of his old forthright technique has turned him into a far more rounded performer.For all that, Australia haven’t quite secured the points that, given Bangladesh and Ireland remain on their checklist, will propel them to the thresh-hold of the semi-finals. “It’s fair to say we’ve had some big scores chased down recently,” Buchanan said, referring to the consecutive 330-plus assignments New Zealand pulled off in February. “But it’s nice to say that we’ve made the big scores. The game has changed around the world, and teams are finding it harder and harder to hold sides who are chasing.”With more overcast conditions predicted for the resumption, West Indies will need to show a similar blend of resolve and explosiveness if they hope to compete. Hayden’s performance will take some trumping.

Glenn McGrath has spent more than a decade keeping Australia’s bowling stocks strong and he has been offered the chance to make sure they remain healthy after his retirement. While McGrath plans a rest of up to 12 months, he has been given the option by Tim Nielsen, the new national mentor, to work as a bowling coach.”He would be sensible to take a break from cricket, but down the track you wouldn’t knock back the opportunity to have a great bowler like him involved,” Nielsen said in the Sunday Age. “We use his action as a visual reference point for a lot of our young quicks, especially at the centre of excellence [in Brisbane], and it would be great to use his knowledge.”McGrath, who ended his international career with 1 for 31 in his third World Cup final win, said in the lead-up to the match he felt he had “a role to play in the game later on”. However, his first priorities when he returns from the Caribbean will be spending time with his family and giving attention to his property in western New South Wales.Troy Cooley is Australia’s full-time bowling coach, but Nielsen would be happy using McGrath as a part-time mentor or consultant. “He has given 15 years’ service to Australian cricket so it also depends on where he is at in his life, but if the opportunity arose we would make it happen,” he said. “It’s something to talk to Glenn about in the future and see if he is available.”

Zimbabwe Cricket is still frantically trying to put together scorecards for the Logan Cup, more than two months after the end of the first-class competition. As things stand, they face having many matches removed from the record books.A number of scorecards for the matches played in April and May are yet to be found. The bulk of those which have been provided came from Cricket Kenya as a Kenya Select side took part in the competition.The missing information is despite the fact ZC had reporters equipped with laptops at most of the matches, while provincial general managers were also required to submit end-of-day cards where the ZC reporters were not present. This they almost certainly did as the Herald and, intermittently, the ZC website carried daily reports with potted scores.The situation gas not been helped by confusion within ZC over who is really responsible for collating the cards between the amply-staffed Lovemore Banda’s media department and Christian Chiketa’s operations department. The scorecards were sent to both but neither appear to have them.Cricinfo has been told that Banda was present during the match between Westerns and Kenya Select played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo but this is one of the games whose card is missing.Banda and Chiketa are reported to have phoned scorers and general managers inthe respective provinces, and some have sent even original copies of thescorecards but these too have disappeared.Remarkably, the uncommunicative ZC media department, which has relocated to another office after moving from the Harare Sports Club and Highlandsoffices, has produced player statistics for the Logan Cup. The stats weregiven to the national selection panel to guide to help in picking a Zimbabwe Select squad to play against India A in two four-day matches and a Zimbabwe A squad to tour South Africa.What remains unclear is how they produced the statistics without the scorecardsand how credible the information used by the national selectors was.ZC has failed to make available many scorecards for the Logan Cup, or any from the Faithwear Cup, the country’s one-day tournament, to the international media.It is thought that both could be stripped of first-class status if the cards are not provided by ZC. Both Cricinfo and the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians have been unable to gain any response from ZC, and even the ICC has failed to obtain satisfactory answers despite raising the issue as long ago as April 3.If the matches are not recognised then some personal bests will be expunged from the record books. Keith Dabengwa was the pick of the bowlers with 33 wickets in the five matches, including 7 for 1, while Graeme Cremer smashed a career-best 171 in one match – his previous best was 26 not out.

Australia have completed preparations ahead of Thursday’s Twenty20 match against New Zealand at the Gardens Oval, Darwin, a prelude to the five-match Rose Bowl ODI series at the same venue. This will be Australia’s first game in Darwin.Since their arrival on Sunday, the team has spent time acclimatising to the Darwin winter. The day’s main practice session provides the last chance for new coach Lisa Keightley to make final adjustments before the Twenty20 clash.”Tomorrow will be our third Twenty20 international so we are still finding our way in this format of the game. The match will enable us to set a platform leading into the 50-over games,” Keightley said in a Cricket Australia press release.”We’ll approach the match with the intention of having some time in the middle, enjoying the game and seeing what skills we can produce at this time of the year. Overall, I’m really keen to walk away from this series knowing where all the girls are at.”We’ve lost Cathryn Fitzpatrick, so we’re looking for a new opening bowler who will spearhead our innings. With the bat, we’ll be trying to get some new combinations and establish some players in different positions.”New Zealand will be without the services of Louise Milliken, the fast bowler, who was ruled out of the series after injuring her knee yesterday in a practice match against the Northern Territory junior team. She will leave for New Zealand tonight and have an MRI scan to assess the extent of damage.Sarah Burke has been named as Milliken’s replacement and will join the team tomorrow afternoon.Australia enters the series as clear favourites after winning the previous five-match series against New Zealand 5-0. But last year’s corresponding Twenty20 international resulted in a close ‘bowl-off’ victory for Australia.Australia will be bolstered by the return from injury of Karen Rolton; the reigning ICC Women’s Player of the Year will lead Australia in Darwin.Australia’s team for the Twenty20 match will be announced tomorrow morning.